학술논문

Impact of Channel Thickness on the Large-Signal Performance in InAlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMTs With an AlGaN Back Barrier
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices IEEE Trans. Electron Devices Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on. 66(1):364-371 Jan, 2019
Subject
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
HEMTs
MODFETs
Knee
Aluminum gallium nitride
Wide band gap semiconductors
Gallium nitride
Logic gates
Back barrier (BB)
channel thickness
double heterojunction (DH) HEMT
dispersion
GaN HEMT
InAlGaN
large signal
short-channel effects (SCEs)
Language
ISSN
0018-9383
1557-9646
Abstract
The impact of varying the GaN channel layer thickness ( ${t}_{\text {ch}}$ ) in InAlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMTs with C-doped AlGaN back barriers is investigated. ${t}_{\text {ch}}$ was 50, 100, and 150 nm, and the gate length of the fabricated HEMTs ranged from 50 to 200 nm. It is found that short-channel effects (SCEs) are significantly mitigated with a small ${t}_{\text {ch}}$ . For HEMTs with a gate length of 50 nm, the drain-induced barrier lowering changes from 40 to 93 mV/V as ${t}_{\text {ch}}$ is increased from 50 to 150 nm. On the other hand, it is shown that dispersive effects are more severe for a smaller ${t}_{\text {ch}}$ , as demonstrated by a sixfold increase in the dynamic ON-resistance for ${t}_{\text {ch}} = 50$ nm compared to ${t}_{\text {ch}} = 150$ nm. The tradeoff between dispersion and SCEs is reflected in large-signal measurements at 30 GHz. The 50-nm channel, mainly limited by dispersion, exhibits an output power of 3.5 W/mm. The thicker channels reach a maximum of around 5 W/mm, but for different gate lengths due to the difference in severity of the SCEs. This paper elucidates the interplay between SCEs and dispersion related to ${t}_{\text {ch}}$ , its consequences for the large-signal performance and for the limitation in downscaling of the gate length.